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In forceInvestment advisersLast checked 13 November 2026

Investment adviser registration and annual updating amendment (Form ADV)

A regulatory return listed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), United States.

Form ADV is how a firm applies for, and keeps current, registration as an investment adviser with the SEC (or reports as an SEC exempt reporting adviser); Part 1 is used in the SEC's own regulatory programme, and Part 2 is the plain-English brochure an adviser must give to clients. Source

Official title: Form ADV: Uniform Application for Investment Adviser Registration and Report by Exempt Reporting Advisers

The facts

Who files
Every applicant for registration with the SEC as an investment adviser, and every SEC exempt reporting adviser. An adviser with regulatory assets under management of less than $100 million generally cannot register with the SEC (and must register with the states instead); the Dodd-Frank Act set the $100 million threshold, and an adviser may register once it reaches $100 million but must register once it reaches $110 million, with a buffer down to $90 million before it must withdraw. An adviser to a registered investment company or business development company must register with the SEC regardless of size. Source
How often
An annual updating amendment to Schedule I is required every year, whether or not the information on it has changed; other items are amended whenever the information on file becomes inaccurate, some promptly and some (per Form ADV's own Instruction 10) within the same 90-day annual-update window. Source
Deadline
The annual updating amendment is due within 90 days after the end of the adviser's fiscal year. On the initial application, the SEC must grant registration or begin proceedings to deny it within 45 days of a fully and properly completed filing. Source
Format
Web form, PDF. Part 1 (and Form ADV-W) are filed electronically through the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD); the Part 2 brochure is filed and published as a PDF document. Source
How it is filed
Filing routes recorded for the SEC: EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval); Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) and Private Fund Reporting Depository (PFRD); Central Registration Depository (CRD). See how firms file with the SEC.
Status
In forceForm ADV-W, the notice of withdrawal from investment adviser registration, is covered in this same entry rather than as a separate return. A state-registered adviser that becomes eligible for SEC registration must apply within 90 days of its annual updating amendment reporting that eligibility; an SEC-registered adviser that becomes ineligible must file Form ADV-W to withdraw within 180 days of its fiscal year end. Source
Legal basis
Group
Investment advisers

Templates (2)

The tables and forms inside the return. Plain name first, the SEC's code in brackets.

  • Registration and reporting information used in the SEC's investment adviser regulatory programme (Part I)
  • Brochure: plain-English disclosure of the adviser's business and practices, given to clients (Part II)

Read from the SEC's own (2005, legacy) description of the form's two parts; a current page describing the form's own part structure, rather than IARD filing mechanics, was not found this session, so a possible Part 3 (Form CRS, the client relationship summary some advisers also file) is not confirmed here. Source

Validation rules

No published validation rules were found for this return. No published catalogue of Form ADV edit checks was found on sec.gov. Source

Public data

Published firm by firm. Every registered adviser's current Form ADV is published on the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) website, free of charge; the SEC also distributes a FOIA-requested data file of Part 1 registration information (region, CRD and SEC numbers, names, addresses and disclosure flags, but no narrative text). Source

Where it is published (Web search, PDF, pipe-delimited text)

  • Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD)

    Firm by firm · Web search, PDF, pipe-delimited text

    Every SEC-registered (and SEC exempt reporting) adviser's current Form ADV, free of charge; a separate FOIA data file gives Part 1 registration data (names, addresses, CRD/SEC numbers, disclosure flags) without narrative text. Source

Official documents (6)

The SEC's own files, with the size and SHA-256 fingerprint of each as downloaded on 13 November 2026, so anyone can tell whether a copy is the same version.

  • Form ADV (reference copy)

    Template · PDF · 136.2 KB · 9 July 2024

    Reference copy only, size and hash recorded; filing is online through IARD.

    SHA-256 660596676ff8show in full660596676ff8c4d1cfb8ab16b283fe4386b2bc9ec0df9ccfaabff0d960d65325
  • Form ADV-W (reference copy)

    Template · PDF · 254.7 KB · 26 August 2026

    Reference copy only, size and hash recorded.

    SHA-256 e7a8daf7f854show in fulle7a8daf7f8547af52049900b8f518d56bcb901b6cd834b1336e08f0668887d22
  • How To Register as an Investment Adviser

    Guidance · HTML · 23 June 2005

    Legacy (2005) Division of Investment Management page; its filing-mechanics detail (paper to 100 F Street) is superseded by electronic IARD filing, but it is the only sec.gov page found this session that describes Form ADV's own Part I/Part II structure and the 45-day SEC review period for an initial application.

  • Electronic Filing for Investment Advisers on IARD

    Guidance · HTML · 11 October 2017

    IARD system availability, the 90-day annual updating amendment deadline, IARD fee schedule by assets under management, and the Dodd-Frank $100 million SEC-registration threshold.

  • IAPD - Investment Adviser Public Disclosure

    Other · HTML

    A JavaScript single-page application; confirmed live (HTTP 200) but its content was not read beyond the page shell.

  • Frequently Requested FOIA Document: Information About Registered Investment Advisers

    Data dictionary · HTML · 14 October 2003

    Describes the field layout of the SEC's registered-investment-adviser FOIA data file and points to IAPD for the current record. Dated 2003; kept as evidence that a non-IAPD public data file exists, not as a current description of IAPD itself.

Sources

Every page and document this return's facts were read from.

Knowing exactly what is collected, in what format and under which rules is the first step to real-time supervision. Line4 builds SupTech software for financial regulators that runs checks like these as each return arrives.

Line4's own text, and the way Line4 has collected and arranged these records, are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Please credit: “Source: Line4 regulatory submissions library (CC BY 4.0), https://www.line4.ai”. The facts themselves belong to no one. The regulators' document titles, template names, quoted terms and documents belong to them and are not covered by this licence: see SEC's reuse terms. This describes what regulators publish. It is not legal or regulatory advice: always rely on the regulator's own text. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any regulator.

Last checked 13 November 2026.